5 Ways to Grow Your Restaurant’s Customer Base

Every restaurant owner knows the best way to sustain a successful business is by understanding how to obtain and retain guests. Although in the restaurant industry success is driven by many different factors. A quality experience at your restaurant will help bring in the locals time and time again, but you can't rely on just your local customers to keep the doors open. Expanding your customer base will help boost sales and increase profits! Here are 5 ways to continue growing your customer count after you’ve reached your local limit:

Optimize Visibility

Expanding your audience past just the local customers is almost impossible when your restaurant doesn’t have a presence online. If you’re looking to draw in customers that don’t pass your restaurant every day, then you’ll need to optimize its visibility. This can be done in many different ways. To start off, you’ll want to make sure your restaurant is registered with Google My Business so guests can find you online and on their GPS. After your business is easily discoverable, you’ll want to start marketing it! A great way to reach an audience larger than just the locals is by establishing a social media presence. Over 80% of consumers reported that social media impacts their buying decisions. Creating social media accounts for your restaurant and establishing relationships through there is an easy way to recruit new customers and keep your existing ones engaged! 

Customers read reviews. Good reviews establish credibility for your restaurant. A guest is more likely to try your restaurant if they have evidence of another person enjoying their experience there. Diners are 3.9 times more likely to choose a restaurant if it has a high amount of positive reviews. Not only do reviews help convince customers to come, but they also boost your restaurant's visibility by ranking you higher in search engines. Establishing a solid online presence will increase the chances of a larger audience seeing your restaurant and help them feel enticed to give it a try!

Take a Road Trip

If you want to increase your brand awareness and visibility for miles, then you’ll have to travel a few yourself. If possible, take the time to go on a little road trip to a nearby town or city and market your restaurant there! This doesn't have to be a huge thing, it could be as simple as setting up a table on a busy street and handing out your food samples. Another way to branch out and reach more people is by attending events hosted in nearby locations and just simply getting the name of your business out to the public. Test out the market and see how people react to your food in the area. By doing so, you may even find a great place to open a new location! Branching out of town and testing out a new market will help you discover a whole new base of customers in addition to your already existing ones! 

Encourage Word-of-Mouth

Word-of-mouth marketing is one of the best ways to expand your audience. This type of advertising is effective and profitable because it won’t cost you anything. Not even a single penny! By providing an exceptional dining experience to your guests every time they come, they’ll want to share their experience with others! A study shared that 83% of Americans say that word-of-mouth recommendations from friends or family members make them more likely to purchase a product or service. The bottom line is if people love your restaurant, they’ll talk about it! 

Promote a Loyalty Program

There’s no better way to encourage return guests than incentivizing them with a loyalty program that offers enticing rewards. Promoting your loyalty program to guests will provide them with a reason to return back to your restaurant for more. This method works for both local and non-local guests. The secret is to give them a deal they won’t want to miss out on! The easiest way to do this is by having a loyalty program that is fully customizable and engages with your guests! On average 40% of consumers say that they will eat out more often if they are getting a good value, and nearly 80% say that value is extremely important when deciding where to dine. A solid loyalty program can be the deciding factor for many people when choosing where to eat, so make yours the most enticing!

Actively Engage with Guests

Customers want to feel appreciated when entering a business. Engaging with guests and showing a genuine interest in fulfilling their needs will help you prove your loyalty to your guests. That way they’ll feel more willing and comfortable showing their loyalty back to your business. Provide them with above and beyond service so they’ll have nothing but good things to say about your restaurant. Friendly staff and professional service are some of the top components needed in building a loyal and growing customer base. At the end of the day, your service will sell itself. If you’re making your customers feel at home they’ll want to talk to other people about your restaurant and can better justify making a bit of a longer commute to dine with you. Expanding your customer base doesn’t have to feel like rocket science. When you’re doing everything you can to provide a delicious meal and a well-rounded customer experience, you’ll already be on the road to success!